When I used to ride motorcycles, my phone wasn’t central to my existence, the screen had a small number of gigantic pixels, and it flipped open and closed. There wasn’t much use mounting it to my two-wheel transportation as it didn’t support GPS navigation, so if I wanted to ride somewhere new, I wrote down directions and occasionally made a pit stop to make sure I was on course.
Obviously things have changed since then. Phones are supercomputers that can be safely mounted to and integrated with a motorcycle in a number of ways, providing valuable data to a rider on the go and making two-wheel adventures a bit less cumbersome. BMW Motorrad has taken this a step further with their new ConnectedRide Smartglasses, which display essential data to the rider with a head-up display (HUD) and integrate with both the rider’s personal smart device and BMW freedom machine.
While the concept of HUD-enabled glasses isn’t new, BMW has nailed it with their incoming product, offering flexibility in both function and form. The glasses can be controlled via Bluetooth from either a smartphone app or a multicontroller on the motorcycle’s handlebars and show a number of essential data points, like current speed, speed limit, and GPS data. They come in two sizes, have multiple nose-pad options, and also include both tinted and almost-transparent lens options.
What’s a set going to cost? That hasn’t been announced yet. Will there be a subscription? That hasn’t been announced either, but as with ConnectedDrive, elements of ConnectedRide may require a subscription. When will they be available? That we can answer—they’re coming to the U.S. later this year. —Mike Bevels
[Photos courtesy of BMW Motorrad.]